Peritoneal dialysis is utilized for removal of toxic factors from the bloodstream in patients who have been poisoned, or who suffer from end stage kidney disease and thus become uremic.
In the prior art techniques for peritoneal dialysis, sterile entry is obtained to the peritoneal cavity, after which a specified volume of peritoneal dialysis solution is inserted. The dialysis solution is allowed to remain in the patient for a predetermined length of time, after which it is pumped out and this cycle is repeated many times.
In accordance with this invention, it has been determined that this type of administration of peritoneal dialysis solution does not yield the optimum result in terms of dialysis effeciency because for a significant period of time i.e. the inflow and outflow period of time, the peritoneum is not fully in contact with dialysis solution. Also, as the dialysis solution stands in flowless, quiescent condition in the peritoneum in the intestinal wall can form where the solution is largely saturated with the toxic factors, which slows down the dialysis process.
It is of course most desirable to accelerate the peritoneal dialysis process to a maximum rate of dialysance, particularly since it is generally slower than hemodialysis.
The method and apparatus of this invention are capable of providing an increase in the overall efficiency of the peritoneal dialysis process for improved dialysis process for improved dialysis, while taking advantage of the known advantages of peritoneal dialysis, for example, the fact that it is not neccessary to remove blood from the body in an extracorporeal circuit in peritoneal dialysis.